Dictionary of video and television technology

Dictionary of Video and Television Technology [This page intentionally left blank.] Newnes is an imprint of Elsevier Science. Copyright © 2002, Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Recognizing the importance of preserving what has been written, Elsevier Science prints its books on acid-free paper whenever possible. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ISBN: 1-878707-99-X British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. The publisher offers special discounts on bulk orders of this book. For information, please contact: Manager of Special Sales Elsevier Science 225 Wildwood Avenue Woburn, MA 01801-2041 Tel: 781-904-2500 Fax: 781-904-2620 For information on all Newnes publications available, contact our World Wide Web home page at: http://www.newnespress.com 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America Dictionary of Video and Television Technology Keith Jack Vladimir Tsatsulin Amsterdam Boston London New York Oxford Paris San Diego San Francisco Singapore Sydney Tokyo An imprint of Elsevier Science [This is a blank page.] v CONTENTS Preface vii About the Authors ix # 1 A 3 B 22 C 39 D 75 E 100 F 113 G 129 H 135 I 146 J 159 K 161 L 164 M 176 N 193 O 199 P 205 Q 224 R 227 S 239 T 271 vi U 289 V 292 W 311 X 316 Y 317 Z 319 APPENDIX A: Associations 321 APPENDIX B: Standards Organizations 325 vii PREFACE Just a few short years ago, the applications for video were fairly confined— analog broadcast and cable television, analog VCRs, analog settop boxes with limited functionality, and simple analog video capture for PCs. Since that time, a tremendous and rapid conversion to digital video has taken place, with consequent changes in broadcast standards and technologies. “Convergence” is the buzzword that has come to mean this rapid coming together of various technologies that were previously unrelated. Today we have: • DVD and SuperVCD players and recorders, with entire movies being stored on one disc, with newer designs supporting progressive scan capability for even higher video quality. • Digital VCRs and camcorders, that store digital audio and video on tape. • Digital settop boxes, which interface the television to the digital cable, satellite, or broadcast system. Many also now support interactivity, datacasting, sophisticated graphics, and internet access. • Digital televisions, which receive and display digital TV broadcasts, either via cable, satellite, or over-the-air. Both standard-definition (SDTV) and high-definition (HDTV) versions are available. • Game consoles, with high-definition graphics and powerful process- ing, and with the newer systems supporting DVD playback and internet access. viii • Video editing on the PC, using real-time MPEG decoding, fast MPEG encoding, and other powerful techniques. • Digital transmission of content for broadcast, cable and satellite sys- tems, with the conversion to HDTV underway. This is a complex and ever-changing field and there is a need for a refer- ence that documents the evolving terminology, standards, and acronyms. The Dictionary of Video and Television Technology contains the most up-to- date terms and their usage. The book is a valuable reference for engineers working in the fields of analog and digital video, broadcast personnel, tech- nicians, or anyone charged with the task of understanding, using, or implementing video and television signals. We hope this companion vol- ume to the popular Video Demystified, 3 rd Edition proves just as valuable to those creating and working with the converging technologies of the 21 st century. ix ABOUT THE AUTHORS Keith Jack has architected and introduced to market over 25 multimedia ICs for the PC and consumer markets. Currently director of product mar- keting for Sigma Designs, Inc., he is working on next-generation digital video and audio solutions. He has a BSEE from Tri-State University in Angola, Indiana, and holds two patents for video processing. Vladimir Tsatsulin is a retired military officer with an electronics engineer- ing degree from MVIZRU Military Academy. Following his retirement from the military, he worked as a TV technology professor at “Elektrons” state company in Riga, Latvia and later was a member of the expert group that developed a TV and PC database for the Invention Machine Co. Today Tsatsulin is a technical writer and translator for the Belorussian State Univer- sity of Informatics and Electronics in Minsk, Belarus. He is co-author of The English-Russian Dictionary on Television and Audio/Video Equipment, a stan- dard reference now in its third edition. [This is a blank page.] [...]... transmit voice, video and data bandwidth efficiency In TV, the ratio of picture quality to RF bandwidth bandwidth, HDTV (color set and color-difference set) See SMPTE 240 standard bandwidth on demand Say you want two 56-Kbps circuits right now for a videoconference Use one of the newer pieces of telecommunications equipment and “dial up” the bandwidth you need An example of such a piece of equipment is... includes S -video and component video terminals and offer memory that can store several surround sound settings as well as “memorize” 30 stations for instant recall audio /video signal See Signal Audio /Video Support System (AVSS) In DVI runtime software, the software package that plays motion video and audio audio /video switcher See Switcher audio-follows -video An advanced feature of a professional/industrial... tube A type of color picture tube in which television signals were sent through a long, thin tube, followed by RGB signals flashed at timed intervals band In audio /video, a span or range of frequency 23 band separator signals Most TV sets and VCRs can be adjusted for any one of three ranges: L (low band) for VHF channels 2-6; H (high band) for VHF channels 7-13, midband A-I and superband J-W; and U for... back porch The area of the analog video waveform between the end of horizontal sync and the start of active video In NTSC and PAL video signals, this part is largely occupied by the color burst back porch clamping The process of resetting video signal level offset to zero by using the black level at the back porch as a reference Syn.: clamping; black level clamping back porch switching Video signal switching... portion of a video tape without disturbing the video portion of the signal; also, to make a copy of an audio tape audio dubbing narration The addition of narration to a videotape The process requires the following steps: Connect an external microphone into the mic input of the VCR If you decide to use the built-in mic of the video camera, connect the camera to the VCR Turn down the volume of the TV... 20 kHz Videotape, however, falls short of this range, and is somewhere between 50 Hz and 10 kHz Distortion and poor response result beyond these parameters Tapes that exceed this audio bandwidth range (within certain tolerance limitations measured in dB) may be considered better than average, although most home video machines have a range narrower than that of most tapes DVD -Video and DVD-Audio offer... digital video signal stream (usually using a serial digital interface) audio /video dub A video camera feature that permits the replacement of a current segment of audio 15 audio /video input and video information on tape with new material When audio /video dub is activated, new information is inserted over both tracks Most present cameras offer this feature while other models provide only audio dub audio /video. .. and TV monitor/receivers Stereo models provide one input for video and two for audio Mono units offer only one audio and one video jack audio /video memory function A feature, found on some TVs, that permits optimum control set-ups to be stored in memory for later recall audio /video mixer An editing accessory that allows switching back and forth between two video sources, such as two VCRs or a VCR and. .. mixers offer additional features such as a fader, wipe effects and special-effects generator There are manual and electronic mixers The electronic type may use computer software and IR technology to “learn” the tape transport commands of the recording VCR The user simply marks and names the scenes on the footage to be edited and instructs the mixer that scenes should appear in the final tape audio /video. .. each of Cb and Cr 4fsc Four times the frequency of the NTSC or PAL color subcarrier Also the sampling rate of a D2 digital video signal with respect to the subcarrier frequency of an NTSC or PAL analog video signal 5.1 A type of surround sound using six audio channels: left, center, right, left rear (or side) surround, right rear (or side) surround, and a subwoofer, considered the “.1” since it is bandwidth-limited . that documents the evolving terminology, standards, and acronyms. The Dictionary of Video and Television Technology contains the most up-to- date terms and their usage. The book is a valuable reference. engineers working in the fields of analog and digital video, broadcast personnel, tech- nicians, or anyone charged with the task of understanding, using, or implementing video and television signals. We. writer and translator for the Belorussian State Univer- sity of Informatics and Electronics in Minsk, Belarus. He is co-author of The English-Russian Dictionary on Television and Audio /Video Equipment,